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Doctors in Slovakia say they are going on strike for a second time in a month in a bid to force the government to scrap plans to turn the country’s state run hospitals into joint stock companies funded by private health insurance. The move, according to the Slovakian Medical Trade Unions’ Association, LOZ, will lead to the privatisation of hospitals and the end of accessible, quality healthcare.

The strike warning, made at a press conference on 12 December, came as around 1200 Slovakian doctors—including many of the country’s surgeons and anaesthetists—were preparing to return to work after participating in a mass resignation from the country’s health service from 1 December. The action, condemned by the government as “traumatising patients,” forced at …

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